Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 6.260 March 10, 1997 1) A Sholem Aleichem parody of shund (Louis Fridhandler) 2) Yidishe shprikhverter (Hugh Denman) 3) Folg mir a gang (Louis Fridhandler) 4) Folg mir a gang (Rick Turkel) 5) Bankes shteln un kones makhn (Stanley Matoren) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 9 Mar 1997 16:56:41 -0500 (EST) From: lfridhan@aol.com Subject: A Sholem Aleichem parody of shund A private inquiry drew my attention to one of Sholem Aleichem's parodies of shund, trashy Yiddish literature. It appeared thirteen years after Sholem Aleichem's _Shomers Mishpet,_ a vigorous condemnation of Shomer's popular Yiddish trash. However, Sholem Aleichem seemed to fight that battle for a long time. The piece is entitled _A Farshterter Khasene_ (A Disrupted Wedding). As far as I know, no English translation is available. It is a letter from a suitor to his beloved, full of purple prose. It was first published in Der Yid, 1901. Then it was published in _Sholem-Alekhems Ale Verk, Warsaw: Folksbildung, 1903, Volume 3, p. 105._ The letter (from the latter publication): Tayerste un libste neshome! Mayn freyd un mayn kroyn, mayn khies un mayn lebn! Freydl, gezunt zolstu zayn. Ven ikh, lemoshl, hob tsen toyzent hent, un undzer takykh Shtunkeylo zol zayn fun gole tint, un der vald zol zayn gole penes, un di gantse velt zol zayn papir, un ikh zol shraybn tsu dir gantse teyg un gantse nekht, volt ikh dir nit gekont oysshraybn keyn tsentoyzenter kheylek afile fun dem vos mayn harts tut filn tsu dir fun der ershter minut on vos ikh hob derzeyn dayn likhtik ponem, vos iz shener fun der zun, un derhert dayn zis kol vos iz ziser fun zistn vayn. My translation: My dearest, the most beloved of my soul! Crown and delight of my life! Freydl, may you be granted good health and long life! Just think! If I had ten thousand hands; and if you can imagine that our river, Shtunkeylo [Stinkola?] , was pure ink; and if our forest consisted of countless pens; and if all the earth were made of paper; and if I should then write day and night for all of my life, I could not express to you even one part in ten thousand of all that I feel in my heart for you since I first caught sight of your radiant face, more beautiful than the sun, and heard your dulcet voice, much sweeter than the sweetest wine... Then it was published in the posthumous _Ale Verk Fun Sholem-Aleykhem, Nyu York: Folksfond Oysgabe, VI, Kleyne Mentshelekh Mit Kleyne Hasoges, 1918, z. 41. However, the word, Shtunkeylo, was omitted. Probably it was felt that such an ugly stream did not belong in Kasrilevke. As further evidence of that, listen to the jarring note in the Folksfond Oysgabe edition of Lag Boymer [IX, Mayses Far Yidishe Kinder, Bukh Tsvey, z. 105], published posthumously: ...in dem vistn fintstern Kasrilevke, vos ligt baym taykh Shtunkeylo. Kasrilevke was never like that. When Sholem Aleichem was about 44, 1903, this same story was published. The town then was _not_ Kasrilevke. It was Mazepevke. Mazepevke was, indeed, vist un fintster (hollow and benighted). Now _that's_ where the taykh Shtunkeylo belongs! (See _Sholem-Aleykhems Ale Verk, Warsaw: Folksbildung, 1903, Volume 2, p. 75._) The posthumous change from Mazepevke to Kasrilevke was, in my opinion, a lapse in judgment. Louis Fridhandler 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 10 Mar 1997 16:22:46 +0100 (MET) From: h_denman@maier.vol.at Subject: Yidishe shprikhverter/ frazeologye Leonard Prager [6,259:2] mentions Richard Zuckerman's phraseological dictionary. I can confirm that it certainly existed. Zuckerman showed the ms. to me in his home in Brooklyn in the summer of 1978. At that time it was already in an advanced stage of preparation. A very valuable feature was the citation of parallel Polish and Ukrainian phraseology. The Yiddish was cited in the original and in transcription in, as far as I recall, the three major dialects. Zuckerman was concerned that these transcriptions were not sufficiently accurate. I strongly urged him to overcome his excessive scruples and publish very soon as it would clearly have filled a serious lacuna in Yiddish lexicography - one that sadly continues to exist to this day. The last time I heard of Zuckerman he was living in Strasbourg. Hugh Denman 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 9 Mar 1997 16:56:09 -0500 (EST) From: lfridhan@aol.com Subject: Folg mikh a gang Gitl Dubrovsky asks in 6.259, 4 how one translates _folg mir a gang_ into English. I know it as _folg mikh a gang_ and Weinreich agrees. What leaps immediately to mind is _That far? Oy, what a shlep!_ Again it resorts to Yiddish words, but immediately understood by most English speakers in America, and probably elsewhere. Oder men ken zogn _It's quite a distance! _ (Vaynraykh's iberzetsung),_ oder _That's a long way to go for that. Unreasonably far, don't you think?_ ober es hot nisht keyn tam. Es klingt azoy nudne un temp. Louis Fridhandler 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 10 Mar 1997 11:18:43 -0500 From: rturkel@cas.org Subject: Folg mir a gang Gitl Dubrovsky hot gefregt vegn iberzetsn "folg mir a gang" af English. Know I what? Ikh meyn, az s'darf zayn "follow me a going," heyst es "a wild-goose chase." Be me well and strong. Rick Turkel 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 10 Mar 1997 17:22:34 +0100 From: matoren@epsilon.nl Subject: Bankes shteln un kanes makhn Dos hot gornit tsi tun mit pirim (azoy hot mayn polyester tate aroysgedt purim), ober ikh vil fregn oyb ikh bin der ayntsiker goldene medine geboyerne ver gedenkt bankes shteln af zikh zelbst. Ikh gedenk es mit ekhte haoe, khotsh vays ikh az bankes helfen lbdebiker azoy vi toyter. Ikh farges nit dit flamen di bankes optsuhitsn un vi azoy zay zaynen oysgeblozn gevorn, di royte ringen vos di bankes hobn ibergelozn. In di yorn draysik zaynen ikh un mayn tate a sakh mol tsum Second Avenue Baths un an andere shvits lebn undz in Bronz oyf Westchester Avenue. Dortn hobn zay bankes geshtelt, oyb makh ikh a toes. Es is azoy lang tsirik. Mayn mame hot mir dertsaylt az in undzer gegent iz geven a bobe ni (ire nomen). Far vos bobe ni, vays ikh nit. Zi is geven an itinerant bankes shtelerin. Tsi emetser gedenkt bobe ni? Zi iz geven zeyr a kurtse froy. Oykh, mir zaynen azoy asimiliert geven, dos bankes shteln hot bay undz geheyst "cupping". Mit veynike hanoe gedenk ikh an andere mite kone makhnen, got zol nor ophiten. Mayn mame hot kanes gemakht far ales, nisht alayn far constipation. Far mir iz constipation a Yiddish vort biz haynt. Ba undz Amerikaner-geboyerne hayst kone "connie". Di gantse boykh un rukh zaynen azoy royt vi der roytn fon fun arbetsman gevorn. Dos letste mol vos ikh hob bankes gezen iz in fenster fun a barber shop afn korner fun Wilkens Avenue un Boston Road in dem Bronx, ober dos iz shoyn fiftsik yor tsirik. Stanley Matoren ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 6.260